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Corporation 


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n 


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I      I    Covers  damaged/ 


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Covers  restored  and/or  laminated/ 
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This  item  is  filmed  at  the  reduction  ratio  checked  below/ 

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1 

2 

3 

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par  la  premier  plat  et  en  terminant  soit  par  la 
darniAre  paga  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration.  soit  par  la  second 
plat,  salon  le  cas.  Tous  les  autras  exemplairas 
originaux  sont  filmAs  en  commen^ant  par  la 
pramiire  paga  qui  comporte  une  empreinte 
d'impression  ou  d'illustration  at  en  terminant  par 
la  darniAre  paga  qui  comporte  una  telle 
empreinte. 

Un  des  symboles  suivants  apparattra  sur  la 
darniAre  image  de  cheque  microfiche,  selon  le 
cas:  la  symbols  «»*  signlfie  "A  SUIVRE".  le 
symbols  ▼  signifie  "FIN". 

Les  cartes,  planches,  tableaux,  etc..  peuvent  *tre 
filmAs  A  des  taux  de  reduction  diffArents. 
Lorsque  le  document  est  trop  grand  pour  Atre 
reproduit  en  un  seul  clich*.  il  est  film*  i  partir 
de  I'angia  supArieur  gauche,  de  gauche  k  droite, 
et  de  haut  en  bas.  en  prenant  le  nombre 
d'imagas  nAcessaira.  Les  diagrammes  suivsnts 
illustrant  la  mAthoda. 


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5 

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mmmmmmm'iii 


THIRTIETH  CONGRESS— SECOND  SESSION. 


Ex.  Doc.  No.  3. 


HOUSE  OF  REPRESENTATIVES. 


APPROVAL  OF  THE  OREGON  BILL. 


oil    M I '- 


MESSAGE 


FBOM  THE 


PRESIDENT  OF  THE  UNITED  STATES, 


NOTirTING 


The  House  of  Representatives  of  his  approval  of  the  bill  ^*  to  estab- 
lish ihe  territorial  government  of  Oregon.^^  - 


.. 


December  6,  1848. 

Laid  upon  the  table,  and  ordered  to  be  printed. 


To  the  House  of  Representatives  of  the  U.iited  States: 

When  the  President  has  given  his  official  sanction  to  a  bill  which 
has  passed  Congress,  usage  requires  th^t  he  shall  notif}  the  House 
in  which  it  originated  of  that  fact.  The  mode  of  giving  this  noti- 
fication has  been  by  an  oral  message  delivered  by  his  private  sec- 
retary. 

Having  this  day  approved  and  signed  an  act  entitle  1  ^'  an  act  to 
establish  the  territoriai  government  of  Oregon,"  I  deem  it  proper, 
under  the  existing  circumstances,  to  communicate  the  fact  in  a  more 
solemn  form.     The  deeply   interesting  and   protracted   discussions 
which  have  taken  place  in  both  Houses  of  Congress,  and  the  ab- 
sorbing interest  which  the  subject  has  excited  throughout  the  coun- 
try, justify,  in  my  judgment,  this  departure  from  the  form  of  notice 
observed  in  other  cases.     In  this  communication  with  a  co*ordinate 
branch  of   the  government,  made  proper  by  the  considerations  re- 
ferred to,  I  shall  frankly  and  without  reserve  express  the  reasons 
which  have  constrained  me  not  to  withhold  my  signature  from  the 
bill  to  establish  a  government  over  Oregon,   even  though  the  two 
territories  of  New  Mexico  and  California  are  to  be  left  for  the  present 
without  governments.     None  doubt  that  it  is  proper  to  establish  a 
government  iu  Oregon.     Indeed  it  h^s  been   too  long  delayed.     I 
have  made  repeated  recommendations  to.  Congress  to  this  effect. 


b748^ 


p.:on 


•^; 


VICTORIA, 


il^p 


mmmmm 


2 


Ex.  Doc.  No.  3. 


The  petitions  of  the  people  of  that  "distant  region  have  been  pre- 
sented to  the  government  and  ought  not  to  be  disregarded.  To 
give  to  them  a  regularly  organized  government  and  the  protection  of 
our  laws,  which  as  citizens  of  the  United  States  they  claim,  is  a 
high  duty  on  our  part,  and  one  which  we  are  bound  to  perform 
unless  there  be  controlling  reasons  to  prevent  it. 

In  the  progress  of  all  governments  questions  of  such  transcend- 
ent importance  occasionally  arise  as  to  cast  in  the  shade  all  those 
of  a  mere  party  character.  But  one  such  question  can  now  be  agi- 
tated in  this  country,  and  this  may  endanger  our  glorious  Union — 
the  source  of  our  greatness  and  all  our  political  blessings.  This 
question  is  slavery.  With  the  slaveholding  States  this  does  not 
embrace  merely  the  rights  of  property,  however  vnluable;  but  it 
ascerds  far  higher  and  involves  the  domestic  peace  and  security  of 
every  family.'  ,r, 

The  fathers  of  the  constitution,  the  wise  and  patriotic  men  who 
laid  the  foundation  of  our  institutions,  foreseeing  the  danger  from 
this  quarter,  acted  in  a  spirit  of  corppromise  and  mutual  concession 
on  this  dangerous  and  delicate  subject,  and  their  wisdom  ought  to 
be  the  guide  of  their  successors..  Whilst  they  left  to  the  States, 
exclusively,  the  question  of  domestic  slavery  within  their  respec- 
tive limits,  they  provided  that  slaves  who  might  escape  into  other 
States  not  recognizing  the  institution  of  slavery  shall  "  be  deliver- 
ed up  on  the  claim  of  the  party  to  whom  such  service  or  labor  may 
be  due." 

Upon  this  foundation  the  matter  rested  until  the  Missouri  ques- 
tion arose. 

In  December,  1819,  application  was  made  to  Congress  by  the 
people  of  the  Missouri  territory  for  admission  into  the  Union  as  a 
State.  The  discussion  upon  the  subject  in  Congress  involved  the 
question  of  slavery,  and  was  prosecuted  with  such  violence  as  to 
produce  excitements  alarming  to  every  patriot  in  the  Union.  But 
the  good  genius  of  conciliation,  which  presided  at  the  birth  of  our 
institutions,  finally  prevailed;  and  the  Missouri  compromise  was 
adopted.  The  eighth  section  of  the  act  of  Congress  of  the  6th 
of  March,  1820,  *'lo  authorize  the  people  of  the  Missouri  terri- 
tory to  form  a  constitution  and  State  government,"  &c.,  provides: 
**That  in  all  that  territory  ceded  by  France  to  the  United  States, 
under  the  name  of  Louisiana,  which  lies   north    of  thirty-six  de- 

?;rees  and  thirty  minutes  north  latitude,  not  included  within  the 
imits  of  the  State  contemplated  by  this  act,  slavery  and  involun- 
tary servitude,  otherwise  than  in  the  punishment  of  crimes,  whereof 
the  parlies  shall  have  been  duly  convicted,  shall  be,  and  is  hereby, 
forever  prohibited:  Providedj  always j  That  any  person  escaping 
into  the  same  from  whom  labor  or  service  is  lawfully  claimed  in 
any  State  or  Territory  of  the  United  States,  such  fugitive  may  be 
lawfully  reclaimed  and  conveyed  to  the  person  claiming  his  or  her 
labor  or  service,  as  aforesaid." 

This  compromise  had  the  effect  of  calming  the  trouble  waves, 
and  restoring  peace  and  good  will  throughout  the  States  of  the 
Union.  * 


•«  *  -^  J  f- 


♦ 


,A««o;viV 


1  pre- 
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ion  of 

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But 
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e  waves,    i 
of  the 


^         Ex.  Doc.  N.o.  3.  .  9 

The  Missouri  question  had  excited  intense  agitation  of  the  pub- 
lic mind,  and  threatened  to  divide  the  country  into  geographical 
parties,  alienating  the  feelings  of  attachment  which  each  portion 
oi'.our  Union  should  bear  to  every  other.  Thecomprc  ise  allayed 
the  excitement,  tranquilized  the  popular  mind,  and  re  ored  confi- 
dence and  fraternal  feelings.  Its  authors  were  hailea  as  public 
benefactors. 

I  do  not  doubt  that  a  similar  adjustment  of  the  questions  which 
now  agitate  the  public  mind,  would  produce  the  same  happy  re- 
sults. Il  the  legislation  of  Congress  ori  the  subject  of  the  other 
territories  shall  not  be  adopted  in  a  spirit  of  conciliation  and  com- 
promise, it  is  impossible  that  the  country  can  be  satisfied,  or  that 
the  most  disastrous  consequences  shall  fail  to  ensue.  1 

When  TeScas  was  admitted  into  the  Union  the  same  spirit  of  com- 
promise which  gui'led  our  predecessors  in  the  admission  of  Missouri, 
a  quarter  of  a  century  before,  prevailed,  without  any  serious  op- 
position. The  joint  resolution  for  annexing  Texas  to  the  United 
Slates,  approved  March  the  first,  one  thousand  eight  hundred  and 
forty-five,  provides  that  "such  States  as  may  be  formed  out  of  that 
portion  of  said  territory  lying  south  of  thirty-six  degrees  thirty 
minutes,  north  latitude,  commonly  known  as  the  Missouri  compro- 
mise line,  shall  be  admitted  into  the  Union  with  or  without  slavery, 
as  the  people  of  each  State  .asking  admission  may  desire.  And  in 
such  State  or  States  as  shall  be  formed  out  of  said  territory  north 
of  the  Missouri  compromise  line,  slavery  or  involuntary"  servitude 
(except  for  crime)  shall  be  prohibited." 

The  territory  of  Oregon  lies  far  north  of  thirty-six  degrees  thir- 
ty minutes,  the  Missouri  and  Texas  compromise  line.  Its  southern 
boundary  is  the  parallel  of  42°,  leaving  the  intermediate  distance 
to  be  three  hundred  and  thirty  geographical  miles.  And  it  is  be- 
cause the  provisions  of  this  bill  are  not  inconsistent  with  the  laws 
of  the  Missouri  compromise,  if  extended  from  the  Rio  Grande  to 
the  Pacific  ocean,  that  I  have  not  felt  at  liberty  to  withhold  my 
sanction.  Had  it  embraced  territories  south  of  that  compromise, 
the  question  presented  for  my  consideration  would  have  been  of  a 
far  different  character,  and  my  action  upon  it  must  have  corres- 
ponded with  my  convictions. 

Ought  we  now  to  disturb  the  Missouri  and  Texas  c  mpromises? 
Ought  we  at  this  late  day,  in  attempting  to  annul  what  has  been  so 
long  established  and  acquiesced  in,  to  excite  sectional  divisions  and 
jealousies,  to  alienate  the  people  of  different  portions  of  the  Union 
from  each  other,  and  to  endanger  the  existence  of  the  Union  itself  ? 

Prom  the  adoption  of  thf  federal  constitution,  during  a  period  of 
sixty  years,  our  progress  as  a  nation  has  been  without  example  in 
the  annals  of  history.  Under  the  protection  of  a  bountiful  Provi- 
dence, we  have  advanced  with  giant  strides  in  the  career  of  wealth 
and  prosperity.  We  have  enjoyed  the  blessings  of  freedom  to  a 
greater  extent  than  any  other  people,  ancient  or  modern,  under  a 
government  which  has  preserved  order,  and  secured  to  every  citi- 
zen life,  liberty,  and  property.  We  have  now  become  an  example 
for  imitation  to  the  w  hole  world.     The  friends  of  freedom  in  every 


rr 


^m 


Ex.  Doc.  No.  3. 


dime  point  with  admiration  to  our  institutions.  Siiall  we,  then,  at 
the  moment  when  the  people  of  Europe  are  devoting);  all  their  en- 
ergies in  the  attempt  to  assimilate  their  institutions  to  our  own^ 
peril  all  our  blessings  by  despising  the  Itssons  of  experience,  and 
refusing  to  tread  in  the  footsteps  which  our  fathers  have  trodden  f 
And  for  what  cause  would  we  endanger  our  glorious  Union  t  The 
Missouri  compromise  contains  a  prohibition  of  slavery  throughout 
all  that  vast  region  extending  twelve  and  a  half  dtgrees  along  the 
Pacific,  from  the  parallel  of  thirty-six  degrees  thirty  minutes,  to 
that  of  forty-n'ine  degrees,  and  cast  from  that  ocean  to  and  beyond 
the  summit  of  the  Rocky  mountains.  Why,  then,  should  our  in- 
stitutions be  endangered  because  it  is  proposed  to  submit  to  the 
people  of  the  remainder  of  our  newly  acquired  territory  lying 
south  of  thirty-six  degrees  thirty  minutes,  embracing  Itss  than  four 
degrees  of  latitude,  the  question  whether,  in  the  language  of  the 
Texas  compromise,  they  "shall  be  admitted  (as  a  State)  into  the 
Union  with  or  without  slavery."  Is  this  a  question  to  be  pushed 
to  such  extremities  bj  excited  partizans  on  the  one  side  or  the  other, 
in  regard  to  our  newly  acquired  distant  possessions  on  the  Pacific, 
as  to  endanger  the  union  of  thirty  glorious  States  which  constitute 
our  confederacy?  I  have  an  abiding  confidence  that  the  sober  re- 
flection and  sound  patriotism  of  the  people  of  all  the  States  will 
bring  them  to  the  conclusion,  that  the  dictate  of  wisdom  is  to  follow 
the  example  of  those  who  have  gone  before  us,  and  settle  this  dan- 
gerous question  on  the  Missouri  compromise,  or  some  other  equit- 
able compromise,  which  would  respect  the  rights  of  all,  and  prove 
satisfactory  to  the  different  portions  of  the  Union. 

Holding  as  a  sacred  trust  the  executive  authority  for  the  whole 
Union,  and  bound  to  guard  the  rights  of  all,  I  should  be  con- 
strained, by  a  sense  of  duty,  to  withhold  my  official  sanction  from 
any  measure  which  would  conflict  with  these  important  objects. 

I  cannot  more  appropriately  close  this  message  than  by  quoting 
,  from  the  farewell  address  of  the  father  of  his  country.  His  warn- 
ing voice  can  never  be  heard  in  vain  by  the  American  people.  If 
the  spirit  of  prophecy  had  distinctly  presented  to  his  view,  more 
than  a  half  century  ago,  the  present  distracted  condition  of  his 
country,  the  language  which  he  then  employed  could  not  have  been 
more  appropriate  than  it  is  to  the  present  occasion.     He  declared: 

*'  The  unity  of  government  which  constitutes  you  one  people  is 
also  now  dear  to  you.  It  is  justly  so,  for  it  is  a  main  pillar  in  the 
/edifice  of  your  real  independence,  the  support  of  your  tranquility 
at  home,  your  peace  abroad,  of  your  safety,  of  your  prosperity,  of 
that  very  liberty  which  you  so  highly  prize.  But  as  it  is  easy  to 
foresee  that,  from  different  causes,  and  from  different  quarters, 
much  pains  will  be  taken,  many  artifio's  employed,  to  weaken  in 
your  minds  the  conviction  of  this  truthj  as  this  is  the  point  in  your 
political  fortress  against  which  the  batteiies  of  internal  and  exter- 
nal enemies  will  be  most  constantly  and  actively  (though  often 
covertly  and  insidiously)  directed,  it  is  of  infinite  moment  that  you 
should  properly  estimate  the  immense  value  of  your  national  union 
to  your  collective  and  individual  happiness;  that  you  should  cher- 


Ex.  Doc.  No.  3. 


len,  at 
eir  en- 
r  own, 
:e,  and 
)dden  1 
]     The 
ughout 
)ng  the 
ites,  to 
beyond 
our  in- 
;  to  the 
f   lying 
I  an  four 
e  of  the 
into  the 

pushed 
le  other, 

Pacific, 
jnstitute 
lOber  re- 
ites  will 
;o  follow 
this  dan- 
er  equit- 
nd  prove 

[le  whole 
be  con- 
ion  from 
jects. 
r  quoting 
[is  warn- 
ople.     If 
ew,  more 
)n  of  his 
lave  been 
declared: 
)eople   is 
ar  in  the 
anquility 
erity,  of 
s  easy  to 
quarters, 
eaken  in 
t  in  your 
nd  exter- 
gh   often 
;  that  jrou 
nal  union 
uld  cher- 


ish a  cordial,  habitual,  and  immovable  attachment  to  it;  accustom- 
ing yourselves  to  think  and  to  speak  of  it  as  a  palladium  of  your 
political  safety  and  prosperity;  watching  for  its  preservation  with 
jealous  anxiety;  discountenancing  whatever  may  suggest  even  a 
suspicion  that  it  can  in  any  event  be  abandorfed,  and  indignantly 
frowning  upon  the  first  dawning  of  every  attempt  to  alienate  any 
portion  of  our  country  from  the  rest,  or  to  enfeeble  the  sacred  ties 
which  n.ow  link  together  the  various  parts. 

"  For  this  you  have  every  inducement  of  sympathy  and  interest. 
Citizens  by  birth   or  choice    of  a  common   country,  that    country 
has  a  right  to  concentrate  your  affections.     The  name  of  American 
which  belongs  to  you  in  your  national  capacity,  must  always  exalt 
the  just  pride    of  patriotism,    more- than    any  appellation    derived 
from  local  discriminations.     With  slight  shades  of  difference,  you 
have  the  same  religion,    manners,  habits,  and  political   principles. 
You  have,    in    a  common    cause,   fought    and  triumphed    together. 
f  The  independence  and  liberty  you  possess    are  the  work    of  joint 
i  councils  and  joint  efforts,  of  common  dangers,  sufferings,  and  suc- 
'  cess.     With  such  powerful   and    obvious  motives   to  union,  affect- 
ing all  parts  of  our  country,    while   experience  shall  not  have  de- 
;   monstrated  its  impracticability,  there  will  always  be  reason  to  dis- 
;  trust  the  patriotism  of  those  who  in  any  quarter   may  endeavor  to 
[  weaken  its  bands. 

;      "  In  contemplating  the  causes   which  may  disturb  our   union,  it 
;  occurs  as  matter  of  serious  concern    that  any  ground  should   have 
I  been  furnished  for  characterizing  parties  by  geographical  discrimi- 
nations— Korthern   and    Southern^  Jitlantic  and    Western;  whence 
designing  men  may  endeavor  to  excite  a  belief  that  there  is  a  real 
!  difference  of  local  interests  and  views.     One  of  the   expedients  of 
\  party  to  acquire  influence  within  particular    districts  is,  to  misrep- 
'\  resent  the  opinions  and  aims  of  other  districts.     You  cannot  shield 
yourselves  too    much    against   the   jealousies  and  heart  burnings 
which  spring  from  these    misrepresentations.     They  tend  to    alien 
I  to  each  other  those  who  ought  to  be  bound    together  by  fraternal 
aflfection." 

JAMES  K.  POLK. 
Washington,  August  14,  1848. 


